hi, i recently purchased a ford mondeo 2.0 zetec(2001),i put in £40 of petrol,and that lasted me 195 miles before it ran out completely,i drive sensible so dont speed about,most of the miles are local,wat sort of miles should i be getting and do i have a possible fault.thankyou. Read more

Hi all,

I have a 1998 Peugeot 306 1.9 diesel which, 2 nights ago, I went to start as normal but after the glow plug light had gone out on the dash turning the key to start the engine caused all electrics to fail.

When I had time to investigate more thoroughly the following day I checked all the fuses is both the fuse boxes (in the engine compartment near the battery, and under the drivers-side console), but all were fine. I then checked the battery (which was only replaced a few months ago) and that also appears to be charged and in full working order.

I tried a number of things to narrow the problem down but was getting non-deterministic results (i.e. I would try something and get one result, but when I tired the exact same thing a few minutes later it'd get a different result). As this didn't make a lot of sense to me I decided to do a bit of research online and ended up going down the route of suspecting the immobiliser, but everything I've seen referred to that would fix/reset it don't seem to apply to my car (I have no fob - which I think is what's commonly referred to as a plip; there's no 'grey squares' under the rear seat behind the driver; and no reset button on the right-hand side of the steering column; also, the spare key gives exactly the same result)

Last night I was again testing things and the good news is that it's behaving a lot more deterministically now (I can run the same test multiple times and get the same result each time). This is making me wonder if I've got a short somewhere, due to water ingress, that is slowly getting better as it dries out?

Things that I've witnessed that I believe are significant so far include:

1) Although right before the fault I was able to get the glow plugs to activate (although the only evidence I have of this is the glow plug light on the dash illuminating and then going out a few seconds later), I am now no longer able to get this far in that starting sequence. As soon as I turn the ignition to position 2 all electrics cut out.

2) If I turn the ignition to position 1 I can active the sidelights (and rear lights), but as soon as I try to active dimmed headlights, or full beams, all electrics cut out.

3) After electrics have cut out nothing will operate until I switch the ignition off completely. At that point the central locking and courtesy light will again have power. I can then go ahead and turn the ignition to position 1 and get sidelights, as stated above.

4) When I was testing things the other day I noticed the one of the relays located with the fuse box under the drivers-side console was ticking. This ticking was regular in timing, but occasionally would 'skip' a tick and occasionally would tick even more rapidly for a few seconds before return back to its regular ticking speed. I did not observe this ticking when I tested last night.

5) On a couple of occasions while testing (sorry I didn't pay a lot of attention to exactly what tests at the time) the clock has been reset. This doesn't happen with every test, which to me suggests that what I've referred to above as 'all electrics cut out' isn't actually a total loss of electrical power.

Anyone got any thoughts on what else I should be investigating?

Russell Read more

I just started getting an strange problem with my gearbox (2002 1.4 MPI Fabia). When the car is cold, everything is fine, however after warming the car up and driving for 20 mins the gearbox seems to 'stiffen up'. It gets difficult to engage 1st and impossible to engage reverse. I have to wait for the engine (and gearbox oil?) to cool down before the gearbox feel normal again and I can engage reverse.

Should I check the gearbox oil levels and replace all the gearbox oil? It's on about 65k miles. There doesn't seem to be a leak of any kind. Or is this a cable adjustment problem or something else entirely.

Any pointers or recommendations gratefully received.

Thanks, Ian Read more

I have a undocumented code fault reading p2459 could anyone enlighten me on what it is?Thanks! If i have to pay a auto-electrician, how much would i be looking at. I have been around a few diagnopstic computers at a cost to me already. Read more

After a service the garage said the drain plug may need Helicoiling, although confirming it does not leak oil. There is no sump damage from speed humps, so it can only be caused by overtightening or refitting cross-threaded. My argument is that in either case it is their responsibility, not mine. What do others think? Read more